Peripatetic Persistent Pirate Puffins' Pacific Peregrination*: SF to Tokyo (155.6826567 of 1708 hours to go!) 🐧
posted July 17, 2021 10:37 AM   RSS | iCal | +googleCal

Sat August 28 at 8:00 PM
Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. You say it takes 1708 hours of peregrination* to get from SF to Tokyo. We're coming along! The more you (dear reader) log your hours, the sooner we'll have gone the distance. Join any time, we're almost there! Track our progress. Wondering what's out there with us? lemonade made an app for that. Now! With Official Puffin Mascot S.F. Tokyo, Pirate (they/them)!
*Inclusive definition of peregrination. Includes (but is not limited to) archery, biking, bouldering, canoeing, cleaning, couch to 5k, dancing with babies, dancing/jump roping/hula hooping your way down the sidewalk, geocaching, going very slowly and stopping to smell the snails, hiking, hopping, ice skating, jogging, jumping with and/or without ropes, kayaking, pacing back and forth, paddle boarding, parkour, Ring Fit Adventure, rock climbing, roller blading, roller skating, running, skate boarding, skipping, snowshoeing, swimming, strength training, surfing, treadmilling while watching TV, triking, unicycling, vacuuming, wheelchairing, X-country skiing, yard work, zebra crossing crossings, etc.
posted by aniola to Online (16 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

Thanks for your service, aniola! As we near our (first?) destination, please take a moment to consider the tufted puffins, which are nearing extinction in Japan.

Also known as the crested puffin, Audubon says: The puffin’s iconic orange bill might be its most recognizable feature, but it’s also quite functional, serving the charismatic seabird in all avenues of life. The bill’s large volume makes it a hefty food carrier, and its ultraviolet glow amps up puffins' sex appeal. Now, scientists have identified yet another use of this dramatically curved bill: staying cool. ...

“The puffins work exceptionally hard when flying, so this got us thinking about the potential role of the bill in dissipating heat,” says Kyle Elliott, an ornithology professor at McGill University and one of the study’s researchers. “When flying, they’re like a 100-watt lightbulb—that’s how hot they are—so they have to be able to dissipate that heat.”

Until now, no one knew that birds found in colder habitats, like Tufted Puffins in Alaska, use their beaks to regulate their internal heat.


So cool!
posted by Bella Donna at 1:13 AM on July 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


That article is interesting. I learned that the bigger the bill on a bird who lives in cold places, the further they travel. And that birds without big bills who live in cold places sometimes overheat and die during sex.
posted by aniola at 8:13 AM on July 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


I definitely get overheated where I live now and I am definitely going to die so I’m thinking that overheating and dying while having sex might not be the worst way to go. At least I’d be having sex for a change! (The puffins may not agree of course.)
posted by Bella Donna at 2:03 PM on July 18, 2021


I wonder if that's how puffins evolved their big beaks. All the small-beaked puffins died off having really hot sex.
posted by aniola at 4:59 PM on July 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


honorary puffin of the day
posted by aniola at 9:42 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


honorary puffin of the day #2
posted by aniola at 9:57 PM on July 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


94% of the way there! Land has been spotted!
posted by aniola at 10:06 PM on August 3, 2021


treadmilling while watching TV

Can I log that?
posted by bendy at 9:19 PM on August 5, 2021


Does it involve any sort of movement on your part?
posted by aniola at 8:08 PM on August 6, 2021


You could log getting up to make popcorn or going to the bathroom, for example.
posted by aniola at 8:08 PM on August 6, 2021 [2 favorites]


puffin of the day
posted by aniola at 10:26 PM on August 12, 2021 [1 favorite]


We are SOOOOOOO close!!!

Will there be a next destination?
posted by kathrynm at 9:15 AM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


There will be if someone decides to start walking* someplace new and makes an IRL post for it!
posted by aniola at 12:49 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]


Less than 5% remaining!
posted by aniola at 11:50 AM on August 22, 2021 [1 favorite]


Wait, is that the Paralympics I see in the distance?
posted by childofTethys at 6:49 PM on August 24, 2021 [2 favorites]


WHOOPS I didn't update the end date again. Part 5.
posted by aniola at 11:38 AM on August 29, 2021



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